The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at SMU*
SMU Out-duels Blazers, 2-1
9/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 30, 2005
DALLAS, Texas - David Chun found the net off a corner kick in the 65th minute of play to break a 1-1 tie as SMU held off visiting UAB, 2-1, in the Conference USA men's soccer opener for both teams Friday night. Chun's tally came on a pass from Ryan Mirsky after Jeff Harwell's corner kick and the Mustangs (3-4-2, 1-0 C-USA) held on to win.
The victory marked the first as a Conference USA member for SMU, which finished last season ranked No. 11 nationally as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in men's soccer. SMU joins Tulsa, Marshall and UCF as full members of C-USA this season. Florida International, Kentucky and South Carolina are also new affiliate members of the league.
"This match was another chapter in the story of our season thus far," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "With no disrespect to SMU, I thought we were the better team on the field for most of the game, but we made one or two bad mistakes and they cost us. We have got to find a way to stop the goals we shouldn't give up if we want to be able to beat the good teams we play. SMU isn't a team you can't make mistakes against. We did and lost the game."
Duke Hashimoto's header from a free kick by Minor Gonzalez in the 11th minute got the scoring started for SMU. UAB (5-4) answered in the 42nd minute when Maurice Hughes' off-angle shot from outside the box found its way past Mustangs' keeper Steve Sandbo. The match went to intermission with the score 1-1.
After Chun's goal put SMU ahead, Sandbo and the Mustangs were able to thwart the UAB pressure.
"Most of the rest of the match was even with both teams getting chances," Getman said. "They packed it in and prevented us from getting very many great looks. We sent our guys forward, which allowed them to counter a few times and before you knew it, the match was over with neither team able to capitalize again."
Jason McLaughlin, Michael Biggs and Hughes each had shots on goal as UAB pressured the SMU defense. A.J. Robles added five saves to his league-leading total of 48.
UAB next travels to No. 17 Tulsa at 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday.
